Reliance starts work on KG basin

Reliance Industries has put in place the first sub-sea architectural foundation for its deep-water exploration block, KG-D6, in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

Aker Kvaerner, the Anglo-Norwegian engineering and construction group, is working on "the concept and front-end engineering design" for Reliance's gas well.

India's offshore skyline is expected to witness world-class subsea-to-beach projects from the KG-D6 basin to the Andhra Pradesh coast.

The engineering contract is being handled by the Singapore office of Kvaerner and is assisted by its offices at Oslo, Houston and Perth.

When contacted, a Reliance spokesperson offered "no comments" on the issue.

However, Pothen Paul, deputy managing director and chief operating officer, Kvaerner Powergas India Pvt Ltd, said, "We have a long-standing relationship with Reliance, and we are strengthening it by providing a subsea-to-beach development concept."

Sanjay Joshi, general manager (oil and gas), Kvaerner, said, "We have been working on the design for the last 10 months and are providing the front-end engineering design for Phase-I of the project."

Reliance discovered natural gas in the KG basin, said to be one the largest single finds in the world, in 2002-03.

It recently revised its in-place gas reserves to 14 trillion cubic feet, approximately 60 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day (mmscmd).

Currently, India produces 65 mmscmd of gas per day, while the demand is 151 mmscmd.

Paul said Kvaerner Powergas had worked out the engineering design for Reliance's 27 million tonnes per annum refinery at Jamnagar.

It has engineered two purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants and a bottle-grade PET chip plant for the company.

Kvaerner is also designing the Reliance Life Sciences complex near Mumbai. This is expected to be completed by the end of this financial year.